Horan, Nancy

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Horan, Nancy

PERSONAL:

Female.

ADDRESSES:

Home—WA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, journalist.

WRITINGS:

Loving Frank: A Novel, Ballantine Books (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and journalist Nancy Horan lives on an island in Puget Sound in the state of Washington. However, she previously lived in Oak Park, Illinois, for more than twenty years, and it was that locale that inspired her love of architecture and the creations of Frank Lloyd Wright. The town boasts a complex that includes the famed architect's home and studio, as well as several houses he built on commission for various clients. Among the latter is the home of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, whose husband hired Wright to design the house, and who later left her husband in order to live with Wright. Horan lived on East Avenue, the same street as the Cheney home, and while she learned the history of Mamah and Wright early on, she was aware that their relationship was rarely mentioned by tour guides for the Wright properties. This lack of information sparked her imagination, and she set out to research the woman and the details of her affair with Wright. For many years scholars ignored the relationship, fearing that it threw a shadow over Wright's accomplishments. However, in recent years, some scholars have suggested that Mamah might actually have inspired Wright and even influenced him, and therefore believe that the relationship must not be ignored any longer.

Whatever the ultimate decision regarding Mamah's influence over Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural designs, Horan remained fascinated with the couple's story and determined that, if she had too little information to write a biography, she could still write a novel with the affair at its core. She worked on the story for seven years, at one point throwing out her completed manuscript and starting again from scratch. The result, Loving Frank: A Novel, offers a fictional account of the affair and the scandal that occurred when Wright and Mamah left for Europe together, with Mamah abandoning her children in the process. Meg Wolitzer, writing for Book World, noted Horan's uneven combination of fact with fiction: "In writing about tenderness between lovers or describing a physical setting, she uses prose that is knowing and natural. At other times she allows us a glimpse of the hand of fact guiding the hand of art, taking it places where it might not necessarily have chosen to go." However, Kathy Piehl, in a review for Library Journal, noted that "Horan's extensive research provides substantial underpinnings for this engrossing novel." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly commented on the way that historical facts result in a less-than-smooth narrative, stating that "Mamah's life is cut short in the most unexpected and violent of ways," forcing the novel "to crawl toward a startlingly quiet conclusion."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 2007, Marta Segal Block, review of Loving Frank: A Novel, p. 38.

Book World, August 23, 2007, Meg Wolitzer, "Love's Architecture: The Tale of Frank Lloyd Wright's Affair with a Married Woman," p. 5.

Entertainment Weekly, August 10, 2007, Rebecca Ascher-Walsh, review of Loving Frank, p. 75.

Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2007, review of Loving Frank.

Library Journal, July 1, 2007, Kathy Piehl, review of Loving Frank, p. 78.

Marie Claire, July, 2007, review of Loving Frank, p. 106.

Morning Edition, August 7, 2007, "Novel Sheds Light on Frank Lloyd Wright's Mistress."

New Yorker, August 6, 2007, review of Loving Frank, p. 71.

New York Times Book Review, September 23, 2007, Liesl Schillinger, "Notes on a Scandal," p. 16.

Publishers Weekly, March 26, 2007, review of Loving Frank, p. 60; May 7, 2007, "PW Talks with Nancy Horan: The Other Woman behind a Great Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright's Mistress Gets Her Due in Loving Frank, Nancy Horan's Debut Novel," p. 40.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), June 2, 2007, Kristin Kloberdanz, review of Loving Frank, p. 7; August 4, 2007, Jessica Treadway, "A Fatal Attraction: Graceful, Compelling Debut Novel Looks at a Courageous and Vulnerable Woman," p. 4.

USA Today, August 7, 2007, Deirdre Donahue, "‘Loving Frank’ Is a Complex Affair," p. 6D.